Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Seatbelt not required
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    125

    A brief (read: sporadic) history of my ///M

    So i haven't really posted many pictures of my car, since i didn't really have any current ones. But i mounted my new rims and tires yesterday and snapped a couple of quick shots, so i figure it's time to tell the tale of B.Mirelli

    I bought my car ('99 ///M3 AW/Dove) private sale from northern New Jersey with 86,006 on the clock in september '09. Drove it ~300 someodd miles home, behind my dad, with a friend and a huge smile on my face. Stopped at the beach for a few quick pics. I'm not a good photographer, but they get the point across. Here are some the first day and first week i owned the car:










    my original lic. plate is the one in my sig..

    one of my first projects was blacking out the few pieces of chrome on the car: kidneys and rear badge. apparently i don't have any "after pics" so i will have to get some i suppose. black out grills from BavAuto and black spray paint, masking tape and double sided tape for the badge.


    short shifter came at christmas that year. Z3 lever, and UUC DSSR. ///M valve stem caps in the stocking! shortly thereafter followed a Z3 intake boot and ASC delete (stupid 5 lb restriction got me stuck more than it helped). complete set of tools used:


    somewhere down the road...
    DISASTER STRIKES!!!

    clutch pedal felt wierd one morning. stuck in the down position once, then when i was at my friend's to pick him up, the pieces fell out and it no go. broken master cylinder forced a call to AAA to tow it back to my parents driveway.

    repaired with a new MC, new pedal and new bushings.

    this next bit, i'm not sure really classifies as "mods," but more "personalization." all my friends loved the car, but always bitched about climbing in and out of the back seat of a 2 door. well, removal of the back seat solved that problem, as no i only hear them whining till i drive away:




    my dad's a crafty hands on kinda guy, so one weekend we were both around with nothing to do, and he just said "let's build something for that hole in the back of your car." so we did. Inifiniti BassLink was installed by PO along with Audiobahn speakers all the way around the cabin. great sound quality, and the bass isn't stupid loud and won't overpower the rest of the music. factory H/K headunit/amp.

    Oh dear.
    Look familiar?

    well, this time the water pump decided to selfdestruct while i was picking up lunch for the shop, and took the fan and enough radiator with it that i deemed it time for a full cooling system overhaul. (second lic. plate and origin of earlier refference in this pic) i was working (within walking distance thankfully) at a Chrysler/dodge dealership at this time, last name Norelli. thus my nickname at the shop became Bimmerelli.

    no pics of the cooling system work (must've lost them), but it consisted of a Mishimoto all aluminum radiator, metal impeller water pump, fan delete kit (lower temp t-stat, lower temp fan switch for aux fan basically), aluminum t-stat housing, new belts and hoses. while i was waiting for some internet ordered parts, i began another project while it was sitting in the garage anyway. something i had been roughing out since i bought the car, i dove in on a whim and tore out the interior for a swap.

    i love the Dove gray leather in the car (seats/door cards), but the rest of the interior is split between black (cluster and shifter surround, roof liner) and a very boring nuetral gray (rest of door/side panels, most of dash, carpet). my plan was to nix the darker gray of the plastics and carpet in favor of black and a true 2-tone color.



    with the interior completely gutted, and all the foamrubber sound insulation removed (~30lbs worth probably), i hit a wall, and couldn't get my hands on a carpet within driving distance. after putting the dash back in along with the seats, i drove about 3 hrs to conneticut for a black dashboard. i taped off the leather in the door cards and side panels and painted the plastic black, painted the rest of the interior plastic black too. since the dashboard gets the worst of the sun, i didn't want paint fading and just did a straight swap with a black one (and glovebox).




    glovebox accent strip, b-pillars, shifter and e-brake boots painted with a vinyl/leather paint that was actually coded "BMW Dove" at Robbins. hopefully i'll eventually have a couple extra hundred laying around soon so i can have the boots actually made of dove leather.
    few weeks later, black carpet found, again about 3 hrs south in connecticut. purchased, and reinstalled interior in new 2-tone. faint smell of paint for a few days, but the love of the look still remains. good riddance to the ugly gray.

    also lacking in pics is my suspension work. done in 2 major installments, i've overhauled almost everything but some of the more PITA bushings. first was done at sometime up to this point in the timeline:
    Koni yellows
    Turner reinforcement kit for some of the weak points
    new strut/shock mounts front and rear
    some other stuff i'm forgetting.
    well alignment done, and i've got trouble. right front camber is waaay to negative. oh hey, here's a trick people use: swap strut hats up front for more negative camber. 2 right side strut hats installed to bandaid the issue and give me a slightly more aggressive alignment.

    last spring, eibach pro-kit went on sale at bav. i'm local so no shipping makes it WAY cheaper than anywhere else. this is what i've been waiting for! over the next couple months, i collected up more needed parts:
    Turner rear camber arms
    Vorshlag camber plates
    2 new rear ball joints
    again, some more stuff i'm forgetting

    my housemate is also a mechanic. so after getting to my shop on a saturday, we proceeded to completely forget about the camera i brought, and forget to take a "before" height measurement. we tore into it, and had it lowered, with many new balljoints and bushings, and aligned in about 5 hours. well, mostly aligned. the camber plates replaced my camber bandaid. they got set maxxed in opposite directions. a bit confounding, because the front ball joints weren't moving at the time, and the direction of the lean was the wrong way for a bent control arm to be likely. well, shortly thereafter, a ball joint did go, and destroyed one of the 2 new front tires we also installed that day. a couple months ago, i finally got around to replacing both front control arms, and bushings.

    (space reserved for picture of ball joint shank)

    took a little extra effort to get the right side out of the subframe (that was the issue side). when it did, that (future picture) is what i found. where the shank is supposed to be straight, it most certainly is not. alignment done, and proper!

    this was very exciting, as last september i bought new rims on sale, and stashed them till i could fix the control arms and get new rubber for this summer. which brings us to this week:
    mounted Bridgestone Potenza RE760 sports, 235/45R17 and 255/40R17 on flat black D-Force LTW5 17x8.5 and 17x9 respectively.



    rubber that came off the M-Contours (close one is a rear tire- >20k miles)


    and a couple shots taken today with the new rims and tuck






    next up is exhaust repair for my midpipe, followed by 4 wheel brakes as soon as i have money. which may be soon, since i recieved a Turner email while writing this informing me that brake components are on sale all month.

    thanks for looking,
    SketchyD
    aka
    B.Mirelli
    aka
    dan


    Live Free and Drive

    B.Mirelli

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Liberty Township, OH
    Posts
    37,935
    Love it!

    Looks Sketch to me though

    Sent from the HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA and USA
    Call Me Dane l 2/2004 330i ZHP l 18x8 ET45 BBS CK's wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ @ 245-40-18 l KW V1 Coilovers in front l KW V1 springs w/ Bilstein B8 dampeners in rear l BMW Performance Rotors l UUC StrutBarbarian l Racing Dynamics Rear Strut Bar l Jim Conforti Shark Injector l Light Birch Interior Trim l Bimmian Celly Mount l M3 Trunk Mat l l e90 Performance E-Brake & Shift Knob l M3 Tri-Stitched Boots l AL Headlight Retrofit with ZKW Lenses l CobyWheel Wrap w/M3 Stitching l LCM sw 4.5 triple blink and rear fogs l Maple Interior Trim

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Salt Lake City, UT
    Posts
    6,871
    Looks awesome! Love the two-tone interior thing.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Asheville, NC
    Posts
    2,591
    In for all the pics!
    "No, Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of"

    09 135i Msport 6mt
    04 330i ZHP (sold)
    David

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Jupiter, FL
    Posts
    5,160
    Looks great man, loving the two tone work, I always appreciate people stepping outside the box and making something unique!
    2011 E90 Lemans Blue/Bamboo Beige M3- Harrop Supercharged IG: lmb_zcp
    2013 F25 Alpine White/Chestnut X3 35i- Family Hauler
    2006 R53 British Racing Green/Panther Black Mini Cooper S FOR SALE! DM for details!
    Past: 2010 X5M, 2014 328d, 2003 330i ZHP, 2004 330i ZHP, 2012 X3 35i
    WTB!! 2009-2012 E91 328i Touring Contact me with info!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Asheville, NC
    Posts
    3,240
    Great read. I had no idea you had put so much customization into your M3. Mad props! And it looks fantaticz.

    Please visit my build page here, on CarDomain.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    South Central PA
    Posts
    1,613
    Looks awesome man! Can't wait to see more.


    Sent from my fancy city machine.
    MODS: Badassery | Pure Awesomeness | My Blog

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Seatbelt not required
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryans323i View Post
    Great read. I had no idea you had put so much customization into your M3. Mad props! And it looks fantaticz.
    Yeah,i didn't really either lol. It's crazy when I list it all out at once.

    Thanks everybody. I guess that became not so brief lol. I still have pictures from a 4000 mile roadtrip and my trip to bimmerfest 2011, I'll track them down and post some this weekend.

    Tapped on a talk device



    Tapped on a talk device

    Live Free and Drive

    B.Mirelli

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Seatbelt not required
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    Heres the ball joint I took out. That shank is sipped to be straight.

    Edit: maybe? I can't tell on tapatalk.

    Tapped on a talk device
    Attached Images Attached Images  

    Live Free and Drive

    B.Mirelli

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    18,064
    Good stuff!
    Randeaux/Rando/John/jr - '06 Cic ZHP; Southern California
    "ZHP or not, I still like you"


    ZHP Performance Package, Cold Weather Package, Leather, Jet Black/Black/BlackCube, NAV, Anthracite Black "my individual" interior trim
    ESS Stage 1 Twin Screw Supercharger, Sprint Booster, BMW Perf Intake, Magnaflow Exhaust, Dinan TB & STEP S/W, UCC Sway Bars, Apex EC-7 18x8.5 ET38
    Suspension: AST 44100 dampers, Bimmerworld front adjustable end links, Swift springs (8K front, 10K rear), Vorshlag camber plates
    Dynavin D99+, Hardwire V1 (w/V1 Connection), BSW Stage 1 Speakers, Kicker Amp/Subwoofer
    BMW Performance Strut Brace, Orion V2 Angel Eyes, No-holes License Plate, SMG Paddle Shift Mod, Besian VANOS, Gold DISA, Fan Delete, M3 Side Mirrors
    Note: Actual car no longer resembles signature picture

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